Outfall meeting

Found this note in the Legislatve Update:

NC DENR Ocean Outfall Project Meeting This Thursday

Representatives from the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, Coastal Studies Institute and the firm Moffatt & Nichol will be presenting information on the Ocean Outfall Project at a meeting this Thursday, August 30th at 1 pm, being held in the Jockey’s Ridge Park Auditorium. The group will discuss the overview and background of the project and also provide data from groundwater monitoring and water sampling that has taken place over the last few months.

This meeting is the first to report on the finding from the data loggers installed on the ocean outfalls in Nags Head and KDH. It will be interesting to see what the findings are.
Ciao

Discovery Channel :: News - Earth :: Fla. to Sprinkle Glass on Beaches

Budweiser Beach or maybe Cabernet Cove. Thats what the program described in this Discovery Channel article might lead to. It describes a pilot program to use recycled glass bottles as a source of material for rebuilding beaches.

Faced with the constant erosion of Florida's beaches, Broward County officials are exploring using recycled glass — crushed into tiny grains and mixed with regular sand — to help fill gaps.It's only natural, backers of the idea say, since sand is the main ingredient in glass.

"Basically, what we're doing is taking the material and returning it back to its natural state," said Phil Bresee, Broward's recycling manager.

This gives a whole new meaning to the concept of beach glass.
Needless to say members of the anti-coast crusade predict dire consequences, even if they can't say what they are.

Some people are raising caution flags.

"There's no way that you can predict all the environmental consequences of an action like this," said Dennis Heinemann, a senior scientist with the Ocean Conservancy. "There always will be unforeseen consequences."

Yeah therefore we should accept the known consequences of erosion. Enuf rant.
I suggest we take the program one step further and use Dare County's massive reserves for beach nourishment to provide free beer (in bottles) to all beach goers, requiring them to leave the empty bottles on the beach. We could short circuit the whole permitting process and the design and dredging process. Who knows it might even be good for business and beach goers might not notice just how narrow the beaches really are!

An interesting response to an ongoing problem.

Ciao.

USA Today: Flood insurance reform stalled

Saw this piece in USA Today. It discusses the current state of the Federal Flood Insurance Program. Its not pretty.

"Recent flooding in the Midwest has brought the issue back to the forefront. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, back-to-back storms in 2005, dispelled any notion that the insurance program was self-sustaining. They threw it roughly $20 billion into debt and called attention to major structural flaws. Nearly everyone acknowledges it cannot pay off the debt, much less pay for losses in future storms. But so far, Congress has done little more than raise the program's borrowing limit, essentially handing taxpayers a series of shaky IOUs."

I saw this article in a another anti-coast piece bashing subsidies for rich property owners. Criticisms that play well in public but don't reflect the reality of the limits of coverage and the economic benefit of rental cottages that provide the basis of our Outer Banks economy. Rental cottages are our Ford plant, our RTP.
This piece just points up the need for national leadership in reshaping our approach to natural and man-made disasters. We need a responsible national repsonse that includes an insurance component that combines the varied risks that our government is called on to respond to. Without a mandated insurance component we will continue to be expected to rebuild uninsured communities again and again. The politics of disaster will not allow this country to cut loose those who need our help most in spite of their choices not to properly prepare .
I don't hold much hope this will happen but that won't stop me from calling for change.
Ciao

Shelter from the storm

For some time I have maintained a page of links to information on hurricanes. I have not updated it in a while but most of the links are still good. The National Hurricane Center provides the basic info and forecast with good graphics but there is a lot more available.
Probably my favorite site is the Quick Hurricane Reference site. This wonderful site uses a left side frame to offer multiple sources for advisories, updates and images that show up in the center/right side frame. Very well done and great for trying multiple sites during busy times. This source is part of a larger Caribean weather site with local hurricane watchers. Check it out. The site gets real time posts from the islands as storms approach, hit and pass over. We need something like this in NC.
The quick reference page also includes links to the forecast models used by the meteorologists to forecast storm tracks. None of these models do a consistent job of predicting tracks but when the all agree you can have a good idea where the storm is headed.
The page also contains the U. of Hawaii hurricane tracking map which shows the tracks of all the active systems in the Atlantic and Caribbean basin.
The page also contains links to a couple of really amazing sites that contain virtually any possible thing you might want to know.
The Atlantic Tropical Weather Center has links to satellite imagery, radar, ocean conditions etc.
The Golden Triangle Weather page has maps and radar links galore. You could spend days exploring either of these site.

You have know of other useful sites send them on in a comment and I may add them to my page
Ciao

Busted!!

Sammy the Surf Dog wrote to ask if I would provide the surf report for a couple of days so here goes. There is no surf on the beaches of Wellfleet Ma. on The eastern end of Cape Cod. OOPS.
It seems that Sammy has taken his battle with the Piping Plovers at Oregon Inlet directly to Barney (not not the 8 foot purple dinosaur but W's dog in DC) He needs someone do the surf report for the Outer Banks and requested that I provide the info. Normally this would be great as they say ...when the dog's away... I am off visiting other beaches investigating their erosion needs and nourishment plans (as well as my sister). I had discreetly not mentioned that in this forum since it's not really any of your business but since Sammy asked so nicely I felt duty bound to share this with him.
The ocean off Cape Cod is flat, cold (60 degrees) and full of sea weed. The ocean in Hags Head should be warmer, from the web cam at the pier it doesn't look like there is any more surf there than here.
Sorry Sammy, good luck with the birds and tell Barney we know he won't miss that mean Mr. Rove.
Ciao

The Thrill Isn't Gone!!

Saw BB King Fri. night in Portsmouth. He is now 81 years young and while he doesn't play as much as he used to during a concert, he can still bring it when he wants too. I have seen the master of the blues guitar any number of times over the years. He always has a great band and puts on great show. It has gotten a bit more informal over the years and the band has gone from identical suits and big band style music stands too Hawaiian print shirts and a free form line up, but the blues and Lucille remain the constants. It guess there was a bit of melancholy since you had to know that this might be the last time we see this legend live.
Thanks for the great show and all the memories BB. You are the King.

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You can see more images in a Picasa album or at Images from the Ridge.

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Looking for a representative BB King album, let me recommend Live from Cook County Jail. Recorded in 1971 it is the definitive BB King live show featuring some of his strongest guitar work with a strong backing band and an enthusiastic audience. The album features several of his best known songs. You can find it on Amazon or ITunes.

Ciao

Affordable housing explained.

Saw this article in the Va. Pilot. I like it for a couple of reasons. First it points out a problem that exists in many places, including the Outer Banks. It also explains some of the really creative solutions that communities are using. Va. Beach is considering a plan similar to the ordinance recently passed in KDH. The ordinance uses incentives to encourage developers to include workforce housing in their communities. The article also offers the clearest explanation of the vehicle used to keep the homes affordable as they are sold over time.

Here's how it would work: Developers could build up to 30 percent more units on a property without having to buy more land. In exchange, builders would designate at least 17 percent of the total project as work force housing and sell the units below market price - up to 25 percent off.

That discount would be treated as a soft-second mortgage. If the home buyer wants to sell, the city has the first right to purchase the home to keep it affordable. If the city doesn't exercise that right, the buyer can put the home on the open market, but must repay the discount to the city once the home sells. That money would possibly be used to build other such homes.

The model used by the Outer Banks Community Development Corporation * is slightly different. The second is held by the CDC. The owner can get some appreciation in equity over time but the equity gains are limited for the first 20 years of ownership. Presumably the property will change hands in that time frame.
The second reason I like the article is because it has one of the dumbest quotes I have seen in several years.

The Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance opposes the plan, partly because the group says the government has no "legal or moral responsibility to provide any class of citizens the opportunity to purchase a new house."

"The proposed policy has more to do with transferring wealth and income from existing homeowners to developers of new construction than it does with providing quote unquote affordable housing," the group wrote in response to a draft of the housing plan.

City leaders could create more affordable housing if they significantly cut real estate property taxes, said John Moss, the group's chairman.

I love this kind of stuff. First it helps our community to keep costs down if public sector employees can find housing that fits within their budgets. Creating it in our communities helps ensure that government will be able to provide needed services at reasonable cost. I am not sure how allowing increased density involves a "wealth transfer" since no "wealth" is changing hands and the program is optional. Finally, while property taxes add to housing costs, even the elimination of property taxes isn't going to make a $500,000 home affordable for a teacher making $40,000 a year. Stupid, knee-jerk reaction, by stupid knee-jerk (sorry) by people the paper regularly uses to give quotes that piss me off.
Ok, nice piece, lets keep working on the problem in our area.

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While we are talking about rules, I saw this piece in the NYT. New York City is considering banning the word bxxxh. The article details some of the pitfalls and problems of this strategy.Interesting topic. Rules like this have political impact but little real force. Nags Head has a similar rule about keeping live oak trees. The rule is enforced but has more symbolic impact than real force. It has raised sensitivity to keeping existing vegetation, which is an important goal. Not sure Dare County is ready for the banning of individual words. That cuts a little close to the bone even for me, the Mayor who never met a rule he didn't like (Or TMwnmarhdl for short).

Ciao
*Disclaimer:I recently joined the board of the OBCDC.

Sprechen?

I'm not sure what this means but a German blog has linked to my post about the Bonner Bridge (I think). No credit just a translation. While I am interested in spreading the word about the dire straits of the Bonner Bridge, this is just a bit too strange. Anyway if you read Deutsch enjoy. I'll be calling my counsel. Extended Health: Ansicht von der Kante: Brücken dort und hier

Welcome Back

Missed ya!

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
Tom Stoppard

Thanks for calling Walt.

I just want to thank my congressman (pause) walter jones (pause) for calling me tonight. I really am impressed that he wanted my opinion even if he didn't seem too engaged when I tried to elaborate on my answers to his questions. In fact he didn't even respond when I asked him questions about his choice of questions. Walt why won't you answer me? I answered you!!

OK, enough rant. I got an automated call from a recorded Walter Jones tonight about 7pm as I expect many of my neighbors did as well. Walter was polling his constituents on our views on Iraq, gun control, marriage and immigration. The questions were slanted and designed to elicit responses in agreement with Rep. Jones (D NC). Walter wants us to move to a training and support role in Iraq. Withdrawal is "surrender". We need laws to protect our rights to own guns.
When I tried to explain why we didn't need to mandate that marriage should only be legal between a man and woman, Wally cut me off with questions about gun control and immigration. Not nice Walter.
Actually,Rep Jones probably has Iraq pretty much right. He has stated publicly that he was deceived by the President in the run up to war. He supports a role in Iraq's security and not a preciptious withdrawal but the rest of it was classic social conservative propaganda guns, gays and illegal aliens. Sorry Walter we are not on the same page here.
Next time you call how about you actually listen to what I want rather than trying to put words in my mouth.

I'll follow up and see if I find the poll results.
Ciao
PS. Here are the results of the current survey from the congressman's website. If you want your views represented you can take the survey.
I don't know about you but I spend a lot more time thinking and talking with friends about health care than I do about immigration. Micheal Moore gets it why can't Walt!!

What do you think is the most important problem facing the country?

Economy, jobs 10%
War, terrorism 24%
Illegal immigration 42%
Education 11%
Health care 6%
Poverty 3%
Energy 5%

Bridges There and here

As we mourn the loss of life in the bridge collapse in Minnesota thoughts must travel to a bridge much closer to home. The immediate replacement of the Bonner Bridge between northern Dare County and Hatteras Island has been the topic of a lot of talk and very little action. Some may be wondering about the current condition of the bridge. I found a report from Dec. of last year. In summary in it says:

The Herbert C. Bonner Bridge is in advanced stages of deterioration and is nearing the end of its lifespan. The bridge is anticipated to be replaced within the next ten years. The findings of the NBIS inspection and in-depth assessment are summarized as follows:
1. The bridge, in its current state, is safe for use by the traveling public and does not require any weight limit posting. However, due to the advanced stages of deterioration, replacement of the Bonner Bridge within the next ten years remains a necessity.
2. Delamination, spalling, and cracking are widespread and the bridge had an overall NBIS rating of “POOR”.[emphasis added]
3. Testing indicates that the concrete is generally of good quality and strength. However, chloride ions above the corrosion threshold exist to a depth of 4.5” in the columns and pile caps; therefore, active corrosion is occurring and will continue to accelerate.

The report details the severe deterioration of sections of the bridge. You have to wonder if this tragedy will prompt any action. I don't have much hope myself. The safety issue seems to be secondary to so many involved in the debate. Lets hope it doesn't take a tragedy of this scope prompt action.